The present invention relates to manually actuated slide switches which have an internal circuit such as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,807. Slide switches may be miniaturized, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,012, for pluggable use on a circuit board. In addition, miniature slide switches of the pluggable type include some means for registration of a carriage within a series of detents as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,852. In order to retain the carriage in a detented position, substantial gripping pressures are usually required. In addition, substantial contact pressures are required to insure retention of a contact carried by the carriage against the internal circuit. Slideably traversing the contact over the surface of the internal circuit causes substantial wear. As recognized by U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,807, the carriage is manually lifted to disengage the contact from the internal circuit prior to moving the carriage.
In design of a slide switch, it is desirable to provide a minimum necessary contact pressure against the internal circuit allowing the contact to slideably traverse over the circuit without causing excessive wear. However, vibration or inadvertent impact may disturb the light contact pressure, causing the contact to chatter or perhaps be deflected momentarily to produce an undesired electrical shorting or undesired electrical connection.